Ed's Review Dot Com

Incentive Filmed Entertainment, Handsomecharlie Films, Is or Isn’t Entertainment,

Natalie Portman, Lisa Kudrow, Lauren Ambrose, Anthony Rapp, Scott Cohen, Charlie Tahan, Daisy Tahan, Elizabeth Marvel, Debra Monk, Mary Joy, Maria Dizzia

Emily Greenleaf (Natalie Portman) has a crush on her boss, Jack(Scott Cohen) and she sets out to win him away from his wife Carolyn (Lisa Kudrow). But he comes with some baggage in the part of William, Jack’s son (Charlie Tahan) who has been badly poisoned against Emilia by his mother. As Emilia sets out to try to win him over she finds she herself carries some heavy baggage and help comes to her in a way she could never expect.

This romantic drama, heavy on the drama is a fairly dark story of love and loss, tragedy and forgiveness. Each of the characters is not exactly black and white, but different shades of gray, and it’s a realistic look at the foibles of real human beings. This is not a stunning film, and is not overly engrossing. You might find it a bit slow and boring were it not saved by the acting of Natalie Portman and Charlie Tahan (the young son) who bind together to attempt to save this film. As such, it’s a pretty decent dark independent romantic drama with a lot of redeeming qualities. You can find much worse than this, and it’s kind of a fresh look at real people and real problems. Infidelity is never easy, and when you come into it with such issues in tow, it makes it even harder. The original title of this work is “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits” which is a good stab at a proper title for this story. It is very difficult, but as I stated, help comes from where you would least expect it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

DW Films, DW Studios, Everyman Pictures

Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman, Ericka Jensen, Barbara Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Jessica Alba, Laura Dern, Kevin Hart, Daisy Tahan, Colin Baiocchi, Thomas McCarthy, Harvey Keitel

Greg (Ben Stiller) and Pam (Teri Polo) are ready to celebrate the twins 5th birthday.  They want the whole family to gather for the event.  Greg and Pam are planning a move to a new home, and the plan is to hold the party with a bounce house and all in the back yard of the new house.  But contractor Randy (Harvey Keitel) is dragging his feet and everything else he can drag.  Plus Dad Focker (Dustin Hoffman) is in Spain on some kind of mid life crisis learning how to dance the Salsa.  Meanwhile, Teri’s father, Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro) who was also a fan of Doctor Bob (Thomas McCarthy) since he was so much better than Greg, but Dr. Bob has cheated on Teri’s sister and now is divorced leaving Greg in line to manage the family.  Meanwhile, Greg and Teri are trying to get the twins into a very expensive private school called “The Early Human School” run by Prudence (Laura Dern).  The only thing that could mess things up worse is if Kevin (Owen Wilson) (who just loves Teri, his ex) would show up, and of course he does.  The final straw is a sexy drug rep name Andi Garcia played by Jessica Alba who seems intent on seducing Greg.

Little Fockers is the third in the series.  It’s much better than the last one (Meet the Fockers), but not near as good as the first (Meet the Parents).  That first entry falls into the category of one of the funniest movies of all times!  The characters were really well developed and played off each other wonderfully. With characters so well developed, the only thing that could really go wrong is if they have nothing to do.  I think that’s what happened here.  After the third movie with the “circle of trust” and Jack misinterpreting what Greg is doing, and Greg’s parents being over sexed and crude, and so on, it’s the same recycled jokes.  That is the problem with this film.  It’s like a comedy series that has already run it’s course and run out of new jokes.  Most everything here has been used before.  But still it’s very funny, as always, and these are the same characters we know from before.  It’s like going home again in a way.  Owen Wilson has a slightly longer part this time around, and we get to know him a little better.  Jessica Alba is a good add, as we haven’t seen Greg tempted before.  Greg is supposed to be the one to carry on the Byrnes family crest as “the Godfocker”, and immediately he gets stressed and starts losing it and proving he’s not worthy.   It’s comfortable around this time, and I think a good deal better than the last go round.  If you don’t want to see it in the theater, watch it on DVD when it comes out. It should make the move to small screen very well.   Oh, and one last thing.  Take note of the PG-13 rating very carefully.  Though nothing is shown, there are quite a few crude and rude jokes and gags that, although not shown, may be tough to explain to a small kid.  I was unhappy to see a lot of 8-10 year olds in the theater which made me very uncomfortable for them.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog